


Do Cursed Wolves Dream of Magic Sheep?

by trancer



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexual Female Character of Color, F/F, Femslash, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-18
Updated: 2015-12-18
Packaged: 2018-05-07 11:40:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5455244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trancer/pseuds/trancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years before Regina cast the Dark Curse she made a bargain. Years before the Dark Curse was cast, Fate sent another Queen on a different path to her Destiny.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Do Cursed Wolves Dream of Magic Sheep?

**

It's been five years since Regina enacted the Dark Curse.

Today, there's a wolf sleeping on Regina's bed.

It's winter, two feet of snow on the ground. Regina's dressed in a heavy parka from getting wood for the fire. She's never felt more naked. A land without magic, a witch without power is a woman defenseless and vulnerable. All Regina can imagine are those teeth ripping out her throat, claws digging and slashing her flesh.

Her eyes narrow, some of the tension draining. She knows this wolf. "Red?"

The wolf's eyes open, golden yellow, almost glowing.

With trembling fingers, Regina lifts her hand, extends her arm as she cautiously approaches. Snout lifting, nostrils flaring it begins to sniff, hard and chuffing, like its tasting the air. In an instant, the wolf is up on all fours, hopping down to the floor.

Regina swallows hard, swallows her fear. Finds her resolve, her strength. Remembers she is a _Queen_. "Red," a single word, spoken strong. Stern. The wolf stills, snout still lifted, still smelling. "I command you to shift. Do it. Do it, now!"

The air grows thick, a pressure against the eardrums, a static charge across the skin. The shift is quick, contained. Just like Regina taught her. In human form, completely nude, Red rises on shaky legs, stares at her trembling hands. Then, her head snaps up, eyes wide with shock.

"Your Majesty?" she says and her eyes are rolling into the back of her head, her strength suddenly gone as her body slumps to the floor.

Regina rushes, catching, cradling Red in her arms before easing them both to the floor. Where all Regina can do is stare in bewildered disbelief. It's been years since they've seen each other, even before the curse. The plan had been simple. Red would return to Snow, infiltrate Snow's camp, bring word when necessary. Red left Regina's castle. Regina neither saw nor heard from Red again. Not until the curse.

The house is dead quiet. All Regina can hear is the empty silence set to the pounding of her own heart. Hard as she tries, she can't keep the fear from trickling down her spine. Desperate to know if the curse has been broken. Regina waits and listens, for the cars to drive onto her yard, for the burning of pitchforks to begin, voices yelling for her head. She refuses to run and hide. Regina has always known how this will end. So, she sits and waits.

She hears nothing.

Nothing but the quiet and the beating of her own heart, of Red's heart.

Red still in her arms, Regina looks down. Watches her fingers, backs of her knuckles brushing against Red's cheek. "My wolf," her voice barely above a whisper, fingertips tracing Red's lips, "my beautiful, beautiful wolf."

**

The dawn is barely an intimation when Red awakens. Except, she's no longer Red. It's Ruby Lucas that murmurs in Regina's arms, eyes flashing wide, body jerking upright to a seated position.

"Madame Mayor?" she gasps, eyes darting about, realizing she really is naked beneath the comforter. "What.. I.."

"Something about karaoke night at the Dirty Robber," Regina chuckles, the icy exterior returning. She has an appearance to maintain. "You were already drunk and naked in my bedroom when I found you.."

"Oh my God!! I am so, so sorry.."

"Not as much as if I'd called the Sheriff." Ruby's eyes widen like she's about to cry. Regina rises, brushing off her backside with her hands. "Go downstairs. Call your Grandmother."

"Thank you, Madame Mayor!" Ruby's practically running towards the door.

"And, Miss Lucas," Regina calls out, for no other reason than to make Ruby stop and tremble in fear. "I presume this won't happen again?"

"No, Madame Mayor," Ruby shakes her head. "It won't."

**

In the coming weeks, Regina's cautious to an almost paranoid degree. Her life is controlled routine but the need to break it is a form of self-preservation, to guarantee the curse hasn't been broken. She watches them, all of them. The routines repeated every day, exactly the same. She watches Ruby Lucas.

Regina stands across the street, arms folded across her chest, eyes narrowed and focused.

Every day, the same. Eugenia arrives first, opening the diner. Then Ruby arrives, the two argue. Grandmother drags granddaughter into the building, Mary-Margaret arrives. Every day the same, nothing changes. And yet..

Red awoke from the curse.

**

At night, the restlessness returns.

Regina awakens, arm stretched across the mattress, reaching for a wolf that's no longer there. That hasn't been there in almost a decade.

**

Dr. Whale writes her a prescription.

For the first time in a year, there are no nightmares.

**

Every day the same, Regina's life is controlled routine. She's starting to feel it again, the sensation of triumph that boiled her blood the first day after the curse. Early morning and Regina is walking down Main Street. Her smile is wide, bright, hands buried deep in her coat as she walks. The Diner is ahead, Ruby and Granny are on the street arguing as they always do.

Regina walks past.

A hand snatches her by the elbow and Regina spins.

She stares into golden yellow eyes.

"What did you do, Your Majesty?" Red snaps, her grip painfully hard. Then, just like that, Red's gone. As Ruby Lucas, eyes rolling into the back of her head, slumps to the ground.

**

"It says here," Dr. Hopper flips through Regina's records, "you've been having trouble sleeping."

Regina's standing by the bookcase, staring at the string of books she knows like the back of her hand. Every day the same, cracks are starting to form. "You could call it that," she snorts.

He lifts his brows, gazes upwards over his glasses. "What would you call it?"

Her jaw flexes, the words ground to dust between her molars. This was supposed to be her happy ending. Regina's starting to realize she's not happy. She inhales, pursing her lips. "Do you believe in God, Dr. Hopper?"

"I'm a man of science. But," he pauses, eyes bright and wide but questioning, "I'm not adverse to the idea of faith."

She turns. "I'm not talking faith. I'm talking Gods. The ones that made the rules then fucked off for the New World Order," it comes out in a mirthless chuckle.

Dr. Hopper's eyes narrow, head tilting ever so slightly. "Gods?"

**

Regina's dead awake when the alarm clock goes off, a quarter past one. She dresses in the dark, like she expects someone to be watching. Exiting through the back door, Regina crosses her lawn and enters the forest, guided by nothing more than a slim flashlight. She walks until Storybrooke's light pollution is eaten by the trees and a moonless night. Clicking off her flashlight, she pulls a thick candle from her pocket, lights it with a match then sets in on the forest floor.

Regina waits.

Which has never been her strong suit. Time ticks by. The candle burns low, the scent of sandalwood and sulfur filling her nostrils. The forest is quiet, an almost mocking sound. Arms folding across her chest, Regina glares at the treetops.

Hands extended before her, palms up, fingers curled in frustration, Regina yells, "I gave you what you want! She's alive! She's _here_!"

Red was just a wolf. Snow White's best friend. All of Regina's plans, all her calculations. It was knowledge learned by accident, that there are some things even the Dark One's all seeing eye cannot see. With the knowledge in place, Regina struck a deal.

Silence.

"What do you want from me?" she yells at the top of her lungs. An eerie sound returns, her voice echoing among the treetops. But a sound that makes Regina's heart pound in her chest, her breathing to quicken as her skin dots with sweat. Something is moving. Thick, earthen and wet, like the very trees themselves are pulling at their roots to walk across the land. A warning she can feel down to her very bones - the Old Gods are not to be trifled with. Then, it all descends into silence.

Too terrified to move, all Regina can do is listen.

In the distance, a wolf howls, followed by another, then another. The sounds grow closer. It's then Regina realizes, it's not wolves howling..

It's the trees.

With eyes slowly closing and hands clasped together and before her, Regina bows her head. When she opens her eyes, the candle is gone.

**

When she returns to her home, slides into her bed and closes her eyes, it's not a nightmare that greets Regina but the feverish of dreams. Dreams of golden yellow eyes and ruby red lips. Riding on horseback with a wolf at her side. A feather soft bed and silken sheets, a sensation that's as real as flesh - fingers and lips, tongue and teeth, caressing, suckling, plunging and biting. Her back bows like the sensations are real, feral wail tearing up her throat and echoing off the walls. When she floats back down, into the warm and comforting arms of a dreamless sleep, Regina swears she can feel the warmth of a wolf on her bed.

**

"One coffee, black." Ruby sets the mug down on the table before Regina. "Two sugars, no cream."

"Thank you, Miss Lucas," Regina barely mumbles, her eyes focused on the paper before her. At least the news is different every day.

"Madame Mayor?"

Regina's head snaps, finally noticing Ruby's still standing there. Every day the.. No. A change to the routine; the slightly darker shade of lipstick, the shorts a little longer, a little less tight, the shirt tucked into her shorts instead of tied into a knot and exposing her waist. Ruby is different. Not Red, just.. different.

"Yes, Miss Lucas?" Her eyes narrow, gaze still hard, the façade kept in place.

"I.. um.." Tray held to her chest, eyes suddenly glancing downwards, Ruby nervously fidgets on her feet. "I was.."

Regina can't help but chuckle. "Miss Lucas?" she politely snaps.

"Yes.. yes.." And then Ruby's sliding into the booth across from Regina, conspiratorially leaning forward. "I was wondering.." she pauses, eyes darting down as she inhales long and deeply like she's gathering her courage then looks back up, "are you seeing anyone? I'm asking.. for a friend."

Which is a lie. They both know it. Regina can tell by the blush on Ruby's cheeks, the dilation of her eyes. The temptation is there. Regina can feel it in the warming of her own skin, the flush of memories, the sudden and hard clenching between her legs. But, the woman before her is nothing more than a child. Regina would crush her. It's not the child Regina craves, it's the wolf.

"Tell your friend.." Regina returns her eyes to her paper. "The Mayor's not interested."

**

A ghost named loneliness begins to haunt Regina, or maybe it was always there. An emptiness that gnaws at her insides. An infecting virus that starts in her bed then spreads outwards into her house, down Main Street, the Mayor's office, unavoidable, inescapable.

Every day the same. What was once an amusement, Ruby arguing with her Grandmother, has become temptation. The offer still on the table. Regina sees it in Ruby's eyes whenever she's in the Diner. The way her own eyes track and follow the waitress, knowing the kind of present that awaits beneath the barely there wrapping. A lingering heat on her fingers, a phantom taste on her tongue.

**

Regina stops going to Granny's Diner for breakfast.

**

Tired of being lonely, Regina gives in to temptation.

An invitation to dinner. The conversation small, polite. Ruby's eager but, like everyone else in this town, deadly dull. Regina didn't invite her over to talk.

The sex begins the moment they enter the study. Regina's hungry, urgent, practically pouncing on Ruby. Straddling Ruby on the couch, Regina grabs her by the wrist, guides Ruby's fingers to the place Regina desperately wants to feel them. The first orgasm of the evening, Regina comes fast, embarrassingly quickly. It hasn't been that long, except it has. Regina hasn't been touched by another for over a decade.

With trembling hands and shaky legs, she leads Ruby upstairs to the bedroom. And Ruby is eager, so, so eager. But, it's Regina who takes. Maps every inch of Ruby's flesh with tongue, lips and fingers. Who pushes Ruby to the edge only to teasingly yank her back. When Regina tightly curls her fingers, softly pushing until she's buried to her wrist, Ruby cries out like it's the first time she's ever been pleasured in such a way.

The sex is physical, pleasurable, lengthy and exhausting. But, Ruby Lucas is not Red. Eager and enthusiastic, she takes everything Regina gives. The urge to dominate never occurs. No idea she has that power within her. No memory of the nights when Regina allowed herself to submit.

When Regina awakes in the morning, Ruby is gone.

**

The next time Regina has an itch in dire need of scratching, she calls the Sheriff.

**

Ruby stops casually looking, stops subtly.. changing. Returns to the insecure waitress with the revealing outfits.

**

Regina stops by the hospital. Peering from around a doorway, she watches Snow White read to an unconscious Prince Charming. Her smile triumphant, gloating as she quells the urge to make her presence known, twist the knife a little deeper.

Except, today is different. Her eyes widen, jaw practically dropping, watching as Ruby enters the ward. Standing next to Mary-Margaret, Ruby places a comforting hand on Mary-Margaret's shoulder.

Regina's hand curls into a fist, eyes narrowing as an almost proprietary rage consumes her. Remembers why it was she cursed the wolf. A reason that had nothing to do with bargains with Old Gods.

She storms out of the hospital, fury burning white hot. A hatred that drives her for years.

**

Fifteen years after Regina cast the Dark Curse..

There's a wolf on Regina's front porch.

Saturday morning, a knock at the door, the moment Regina swings open the door she knows the woman standing before her isn't Ruby Lucas.

"Seriously, Regina?" Red smirks. She's leaning against the frame, in her heavy boots and jeans, hands tucked into the pockets of her letterman's jacket. "All the realms in all the lands and you choose *this* piece of shit town?"

Regina smirks back, stepping aside as the door widens. "Come in."

Red enters, eyes gazing about. She lets out a long whistle, unzipping her jacket. "Somebody made out like a bandit." She spins, facing Regina. "Thanks for the fucking bed and breakfast. And don't get me started on my waitress outfits." Stilling, jacket halfway peeled off. "Living room or bedroom?"

"What makes you think we're having sex?"

"Please," Red snorts. "You owe me. Considering I woke up about to blow a biker in a back alley. Besides.." Red moves, stalking towards Regina until they're standing close. Eyes flicking to Regina's lips, she takes a quick inhale. "You smell like Huntsman." A tilt of the head, her gaze turns curious, a slight hint of betrayal. "Why are you fucking the Huntsman and not me?"

"Who says I haven't fucked you?" Regina says with the arching of an eyebrow. Her reasons are her own. Always have been, always will be. "Maybe if you spent a little less time pub crawling, you would have awoken with your head buried between the Mayor's legs and not some greasy biker."

Red laughs, tongue poking as she rolls her lower lip through her teeth. "This place got a dungeon?"

"Why?" Regina closes the distance between them, fingers drifting to the dip betwene the points of Red's collarbones. "Someone feeling the need to be collared?"

A growl, hand snaking behind Regina's head as Red crashes their lips together, Regina shuddering at being possessed, the intimation of being taken. Lifted, mouths connected, her legs wrap around Red's waist, Red walking up the stairs into the bedroom.

Red is the one who is urgent, hungry, tearing at Regina's clothes, tossing her onto the bed, feasting upon her flesh. Regina content to just hang on, to be possessed and consumed. She hisses at the lips suckling a breast, nipple pulled taut through tightly clenched teeth, a battering tongue. Nails scraping down the plane of her stomach, hand dipping between her legs, and Regina gasps, arches at the fingers expertly plunging into her sex. As Red's lips follow the trail begun by her fingers, dipping between wantonly opening thighs, lapping and licking, everywhere Red wants to taste, never where Regina needs her to be.

Regina mewling, desperately, achingly, fingers reaching down to thread into Red's hair, only to have her hand playfully slapped away. As that playfully possessive growl rumbles into her sex.

"Regina.." Red hums, almost growls. Teasingly curling her fingers for no other reason than to make Regina gasp, make her back lift off the mattress. "Look at me."

With every ounce of strength, Regina lifts her head, gazes down into golden yellow eyes peering seductively up at her. With a wolfish gaze and seductive purr, Red descends. Relentless, almost punishing, she attacks Regina's clit, consumes it. Fingers plunging, driving deep and hard and fast. All Regina can do is hold on, hands clasping the sheets in a white-knuckled grip, meaningless words pouring out of her mouth, muscles tense and clenching, wanting to let go, wanting to make it last.

**

"I wanted to find you," Red whispers, voice cutting through the silence. 

Hours later, the sun having set, Regina's sated and content, languidly pressed against Red, arm draped over her stomach. Red's hand curled around Regina's shoulders, fingers gently playing with her hair.

"I'd ask if you knew that but.. well.." Red snorts. "I'm stuck in a shitty B 'n B wearing booty shorts."

Regina murmurs a response. She won't apologize for what she did. Red won't expect her to.

"It was Snow," Red explains, Regina feeling the subtle tensing in Red's body. "When I returned, I couldn't leave her side. She wouldn't let me. Even when we were actually away from each other, she had people watching me. I think she was terrified of what you might have done to me."

Regina lifts her head. "Turned you against her?"

"No." Red meets Regina's gaze. "Made me love you more than her."

An admission that makes Regina's heart pound. Someone that sees. Someone who understands.

"That's what Snow loves," Red returns to staring blankly at the ceiling. "Everyone loving her above everything else. That's how she raised an army. Using love, her love, as a weapon. I didn't grow to hate her but, fuck my life, it was tiring. Especially when it looked like she was setting me up as the spare."

With widening eyes, Regina lifts her head, gazes down. "Excuse me?"

"Got your attention, huh?" Red laughs, all smirky grin and coyly rising elbow. "Yep. I wonder what all those people who see Snow as pure and virtuous would think if they knew the only one pure on Snow and Charming's wedding night was Charming. Trust me, someone plowed that field long before I had my turn to harvest."

Regina chuckles, shaking her head as she brings it back down to Red's shoulder. "Snow White, you little slut."

"She thought you were going to kill him. Charming. That's why I was her right hand. Not to lead her forces, but to replace her husband once he was gone. I had no interest in being Snow's pet," she smiles, the hand on the back of Regina's head drifting to the nape of her neck. "My collar belongs to another Queen."

Smiling, Regina leans in for a kiss, tongue flicking over Red's lips as they part. But, there's that tension again, Red's brows slightly twitching, eyes examining. "What?" Regina asks.

"Has this happened before? Me awaking from the curse?"

"A couple times," Regina admits. There's no reason to lie. Red has shown her fealty.

"So we've done this before?"

"No. And, for the record, it was only once with your alter ego. It's Red who's pledged her fealty, not Ruby."

"How long has it been since you enacted the curse?"

"Fifteen years."

Red quiets, eyes darting all over Regina's face, searching for an answer. "Are you happy?"

**

Three years later, Regina Mills adopts a child.

**

Regina's eyes snap open, heart hammering heavily in her chest. Instantly, her head is turning, snapping towards the crib no less than three feet from her bed. Henry is two.

Someone is standing over his crib.

Regina jerks up to a seated position, fear bordering on panic. A land without magic, a witch without power. Moonlight spills into the room, her eyes quickly adjust. The figure over the crib in jeans, letterman's jacket, dark hair with red streaks cascading down the back.

"Red?" Regina swallows.

"My Queen," Red speaks softly. Head turning, lips beaming, the tears streaking down her face glittering under the moonlight, a picture of adoration. "He's beautiful."

Rising, she makes her way to the crib. Standing next to Red, hand curling around her elbow, as she gazes down at her sweet baby boy. Henry fast asleep in his blue onesie, the blanket bunched around his feet where'd he kicked it off.

"I would have given you children," Red whispers.

"Yes," Regina can only chuckle, head leaning against Red's arm. "Stolen children."

Red shares her laugh. "A castle filled with babies and puppies. A home. Our home."

Regina sighs, head against Red's arm, she turns and kisses the leather. Thoughts going back to those days in the castle. When she caught Red with that melancholy look on her face, the 'what if' that could never be. All the fealty in all the world means nothing when Fate has other plans.

Stepping back, Regina pulls Red with her, hands already working on peeling off the jacket. "Come to bed," she says softly, tenderly. Red stands still, like the well holding her will is drained dry. Stripped down to her panties, Regina crawls onto the bed then pulls Red down with her. Red curling into Regina, arm draping over stomach, head placed to a shoulder.

"You are my Queen," Red whispers.

"I know." A soft kiss to the crown of Red's head. "You are my wolf."

"What happens when the curse breaks?" she asks and Regina knows Red can feel Regina's sudden shiver.

"I don't know."

"Make Ruby yours." Her head lifts, Red gazes at Regina with golden yellow eyes. "I don't know why you won't. I don't care. It's your side where I'm meant to be standing. Don't take that from me."

Fingertips brushing over Red's lips, Regina lies, "As you wish."

**

Henry's asleep in his play pen, down for his afternoon nap. Regina's in the kitchen, the air smelling of apples, cinnamon and sugar. A new experiment with an old favorite. Cooking, the one pursuit in this new realm Regina can completely lose herself in. A moment in time when her mind is completely clear. No spoiled princesses, or pampered princes. No angry mobs with torches set ablaze. No reminders that she's a villain and..

Villains don't get happy endings.

Regina has her son. That's all that matters now. For him, she will fight Fate. She will play her role as the cold and distant Mayor, they deserve no better from her. But, from now on, every move she makes is about maintaining the curse. Anything and everything to keep her son.

There's a baby monitor on the counter. Regina smiles at the sounds of him chirping, waking from his nap. His voice gets louder, more focused, the hints of words forming in his speech, like he's trying to talk. Henry laughs, bright and loud.

That's when Regina hears it, a clacking noise, like heels on wood. She drops her utensils, rushing towards the living room.

The door to the play pen is open. Henry, caught in the middle of a laughing fit, sits on the floor. The head of a wolf on his lap.

The wolf is on its back, tail wagging animatedly, thumping heavily on the wood floor. Henry, little hands curled into fists around the wolf's ears, he laughs as he tries to keep the wolf from licking his face and failing.

Regina, feet rooted to the floor, doesn't know what to do. Not afraid. If she suspected Ruby were a threat to her child, Regina would have had the waistress thrown in jail. Stolen her heart to keep her under heel. No, it's not fear Regina feels but uncertainty. A sensation, in this moment, ten times worse. If she were afraid, she'd know what to do.

As if sensing her unease, the wolf rolls onto its feet, padding towards Regina and sitting on its haunches, tail wagging. Instantly, Henry is crawling after her. Tiny fists grabbing fistfuls of fur, using the wolf's hide as leverage, Henry climbs to his feet, arms wrapping around the wolf's neck.

"Doggy!" he squeals.

Unable to fight the smile, Regina lowers to sit on her knees. Hand reaching, she scritches at the base of the wolf's jaw. "What are you up to?"

The wolf chuffs like it knows exactly what Regina's saying.

**

After that day, it's like clockwork. Half hour before it's time to put Henry to bed, the wolf returns. Which delights Henry to no end and takes another half hour to get him to sleep. Before the wolf curls up at the base of his crib, guarding.

Hours later, long after Regina's gone to bed, she feels the bed dip, the wolf curling up at her feet.

Regina stops calling Graham. Stops taking the pills meant to help her sleep.

**

Regina would never call herself weak but, six months after Red the wolf begins coming to her home and possessively protecting her pack, Regina gives in to temptation.

Practically ordering her secretary to go out to lunch, Regina waits until the woman leaves before she places an order from Granny's. Delivery.

It's Ruby who delivers. In her leather pants, blue flannel over a ripped t-shirt with some band Regina's never heard of printed in bold letters. It's not long before Regina's sitting on her desk, leaned back on her hands, skirt hiked above her hips. Ruby wearing Regina's thighs like earrings and eagerly bringing Regina to release. When she rises to her feet, lasciviously sucking on the fingers that had been knuckles deep inside Regina seconds ago, there's a wolfish glint in her eyes. A look that's enough to make Regina shudder, hand grabbing a fistful of Ruby's shirt and yanking her in for a searing kiss.

A singular temptation that draws out into weeks, months. Every day the same, Ruby always eager, always enthusiastic. Regina skirting closer and closer to those lines, those limits.

One night, she invites Ruby over for dinner.

"You ever think about getting a dog?" Ruby asks.

 _A castle filled with babies and puppies_. A Queen and her wolf.

Dinner barely finished before Regina's leading Ruby up to her bedroom. It's a cliche, moving into the bathroom to 'change into something more casual' but it seems fitting for the moment. When Regina exits the bathroom, the bedroom is empty. Deadly silent. The air smells like sandlewood and sulfur.

On the bed sits a single burning candle.

Through her opened bedroom window, Regina hears wolves howling. No, trees howling like wolves. Regina rushes to the window and slams it shut.

**


End file.
